The 1490 NewsBlog

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Teachers Union Responds to Corbett's Liquor Privatization Plan

Mike Crossey, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, today released the following statement on Gov. Tom Corbett’s liquor privatization scheme:

"Linking liquor store privatization to school funding is just another way of holding students hostage to the governor's political agenda.

“It’s nice that the governor has acknowledged that he created a school funding crisis, but our students shouldn’t have to count on liquor being available on every corner in order to have properly funded schools.

"We need to restore the nearly $1 billion in education cuts made by Governor Corbett with an adequate and sustainable funding plan, not with money that doesn’t exist.

"Plans to privatize the liquor stores have failed in the legislature every time they have been attempted in the last three decades and rightly so.

“PSEA is willing to work with legislators of both parties in the General Assembly to craft a long-term funding plan that is fair to taxpayers and provides students with the kind of quality education they deserve.”

Crossey is a special education teacher in the Keystone Oaks School District. An affiliate of the National Education Association, PSEA represents approximately 187,000 future, active and retired teachers and school employees, and health care workers in Pennsylvania.